LICENSED November the 18th 1689. And Entered according to Order A DISCOURSE ABOUT TRADE Wherein the Reduction of Interest of Money to 4 l. per Centum is Recommended Methods for the Employment and Maintenance of the Poor are proposed Several weighty Points relating to Companies of MERCHANTS The Act of NAVIGATION NATURALIZATION of Strangers Our WOOLLEN MANUFACTURES The BALLANCE of TRADE And the Nature of Plantations and their Consequences in relation to the Kingdom are seriously Discussed And some Arguments for erecting a Court of Merchants for determining Controversies relating to Maritime Affairs and for a Law for Transferrance of Bills of Debts are humbly Offered Never before Printed Printed by A Sowle at the Crooked-Billet in Holloway-Lane And Sold at the Three Keys in Nags-head-Court Grace-Church-Street 1690. THE PUBLISHER TO THE READER THE following Sheets were wrote as the Reader will observe by the Contents soon after the dreadful Fire which happened in London in the Year 1666. they fell very accidentally into my Hands in Manuscript as they had ever since continued this last Summer and having in my Conversation in the world heard several of the Propositions therein discussed frequently contrasted I did set my self with some Curiosity to run them over and in doing it discerned as I thought much experimental Truth and Reason and a more then ordinary Life and Spirit for the Publick good in the whole Work I therefore made suite to the Judicious Worthy Author to permit me to the same end for which it appears to have been at the first wrote to hand it over to some of our best Patriots to which he being pleased to concede I began to transcribe it but finding that that would prove a tedious task and that that way would confine this excellent Treatise to too narrow bounds I have presumed thus to emit it to the World I may not divulge the Author's Name but this I may truely say He is no Trader neither pays any Use for Money but receives a great deal yearly and hath to my knowledge a considerable Estate in Lands and therefore the most invidious cannot conceive he had any private or selfish end in the following Discourses I have in my time been privy to and frequently concerned in the buying and selling of much Land and I find every thing he said at that time so true of the then low Rates of Land as was his Prediction of its rising in Purchase so soon as that lazy way of Usury by Bankeering should be broke that I am morally confident if the Parliament should be pleased to abate the Interest of Mony by a Law to 4 l. per Cent. We shall as certainly see Lands in England as generally sell at twenty five years Purchase within five years after such a Law as We did see them about the time the following Discourse was Wrote sell at seventeen years Purchase and as We do now see Lands currently sell at twenty years Purchase and upwards I took occasion in my discourse with the Author to observe to him that though Lands in general were risen in sale as he fore-saw to twenty years purchase or more that yet Marsh and Feeding Grounds were abated in Rent to the Tenants at least 20 or 30 l. per Cent. He granted me to be in the right herein and imputed the cause thereof partly to the Prohibition of Irish Cattle and partly to the late general practice of sowing Clover Saint-foyne Rye-Grass and other Grass-Seeds upon which I ask'd him Whether he thought it would not tend to the publick Good to prohibit by a Law the sowing of those Seeds He said by no means Honest Industry and Invention is never to be obstructed by Laws I queried then why Usury should be checkt by a Law He replyed that in the Trade of Vsury there was neither Industry not Invention but Idleness and Oppression and that all Christian Churches as well as most particular eminent Divines ever since our Saviour Christ's time had condemned Vsury as sinful The fore-going Discourse leads to another great Question Whether Foreign Commodities such as tend to nourish Vice and Luxury ought not for the publick Good to be prohibited by a Law or by loading them with a deep Custom such as VVines Brandy Sugar Tobacco c. And I am humbly of opinion with the most profound submission to all my Superiours whose proper Business it is to agree and constitute Laws that it is not for the publick Good to load even such Commodities with so great a Duty as doth or may ruin our Plantations or totally prevent the English from a possibility of supplying the Eastern and other parts of the World with these Commodities because by so doing We give away the most precious of all our Trades a great part of our Navigation to our wiser Neighbours the Dutch who had rather pay their Twentieth Penny twice a year than loose their Trade to the Baltick with Salt Wine Brandy Tobacco c. I might say too with Chesnuts and VValnuts as inconsiderable as their value is Every thing being to be prized above Gold that encreaseth the Navigation of any Country especially that of this Island of England I have been always an Advocate for Liberty and an Enemy to Persecution for matters of Religion and so I am confident was the Gentleman our worthy Author as the following Tract clearly evinces and by so doing gives the Reason why this admirable Work hath till now lain in obscurity the Policy and Councils of the late Reigns constantly discountenancing that excellent Principle And because Liberty of Conscience is frequently touch'd in this ensuing Discourse and declared to be a principal means to advance the publick Good of this Kingdom viz. Trade Which 't is evident is the real and only design of this Treatise I shall take the freedom to tell my thoughts very plainly in relation to it I remember that greatest Master of Historians Cornelius Tacitus says of the incomparable Roman Emperour Nerva that he did Reconcile Res olim insociabiles things never before adjusted the freedom of all Men with the sole Command of one Such a Prince I hope and verily believe God Almighty in abundant Mercy to this poor Nation hath sent us in his present Majesty our truly good and gracious Soveraign King William the Favourite of Heaven and Delight of Men under whom We may most undoubtedly be the Happiest People upon the Face of the whole Earth if We will but We shall never attain that Happiness and hand it over to Posterity except We all as well Dissenters as Church of England Men do sincerely and cordially endeavour to imitate the Wisdom and Goodness of that Memorable Prince Nerva to reconcile things formerly unsociable viz. Liberty of Conscience to all with the preservation of one entire Vniform National Church in the enjoyment of all the publick Revenues thereof these two things in my most unbiass'd retired thoughts are so far from contradictions that as our People in England are
pounds Portion with a Daughter sixty Years ago were not esteemed a larger proportion then Two thousand pounds is now And whether Gentlewomen in those dayes would not esteem themselves well cloathed in a Searge Gown which a Chamber-Maid now will be ashamed to be seen in Whether our Citizens and middle sort of Gentry now are not more rich in Cloaths Plate Jewels and Houshold-Goods c. then the best sort of Knights and Gentry were in those days And whether our best sort of Knights and Gentry now do not exceed by much in those things the Nobility of England sixty Years past Many of whom then would not go to the price of a whole Sattin-Doublet the Embroiderer being yet living who hath assured me he hath made many hundreds of them for the Nobility with Canvas backs Which way ever we take our measures to me it seems evident that since our first abatement of Interest the Riches and Splendor of this Kingdom is increased to above four I might say above six times so much as it was We have now almost One hundred Coaches for one we had formerly We with case can pay a greater Tax now in one Year then our Fore-fathers could in twenty Our Customs are very much improved I believe above the proportion aforesaid of six to one which is not so much in advance of the Rates of Goods as by encrease of the bulk of Trade for though some Foreign Commodities are advanced others of our Native Commodities and Manufactures are considerably abated by the last Book of Rates I can my self remember since there were not in London used so many Wharfs or Keys for the Landing of Merchants Goods by at least one third part as now there are and those that were then could scarce have Imployment for half what they could do and now notwithstanding one third more used to the same purpose they are all too little in a time of Peace to land the Goods at that come to London If we look into the Country we shall find Lands as much Improved since the abatement of Interest as Trade c. in Cities that now yielding twenty Years purchase which then would not have sold for above eight or ten at most Besides the Rent of Farms have been for these last thirty Years much advanced and although they have for these three or four last years fallen that hath no respect at all to the lowness of Interest at present nor to the other mistaken Reasons which are commonly assigned for it But principally to the vast Improvement of Ireland since a great part of it was lately possessed by the Industrous English who were Soldiers in the late Army and the late great Land-Taxes More might be said but the Premises being considered I judge will sufficiently demonstrate how greatly this Kingdom of England hath been advanc'd in all respects for these last fifty Years And that the abatement of Interest hath been the cause thereof to me seems most probable because as it appears it hath been in England so I find it is at this day in all Europe and other parts of the World Insomuch that to know whether any Country be rich or poor or in what proportion it is so no other Question needs to be resolved but this viz. What Interest do they pay for Money Near home we see it evidently in Scotland and Ireland where ten and twelve per Cent is paid for Interest the People are poor and despicable their Persons ill cloathed their Houses worse provided and Money intollerably scarce notwithstanding they have great plenty of all Provisions nor will their Land yield above eight or ten Years purchase at most In France where Money is at seven per Cent their Lands will yield about eighteen Years purchase and the Gentry who may possess Lands live in good condition though the Peasants are little better then Slaves because they can possess nothing but at the will of others In Italy Money will not yield above three per Cent to be let out upon real Security there the People are rich full of Trade well attired and their Lands will sell at thirty five to forty Years purchase and that it is so or better with them in Holland is too manifest In Spain the usual Interest is ten and twelve per Cent and there notwithstanding they have the only Trade in the World for Gold and Silver Money is no where more scarce the people poor despicable and void of Commerce other then such as English Dutch Italians Iews and other Foreigners bring to them who are to them in effect but as Leeches who suck their Blood and vital Spirits from them I might urge many other Instâ—nces of this nature not only out of Chriâ—â—endom but from under the Turks Dominions East-India and America But every man by his Eperience in Foreign Countries may easiy inform himself whether this Rule do universally hold true or not For my own part to satisfie my own curiosity I have for some Years as occasion offered diligently enquired of all my acquaintance that had knowledge of foreign Countries and I can truly say that I never found it to fail in any particular Instance Now if upon what hath been said it be granted that defacto this Kingdom be richer at least four-fold I might say eight-fold then it was before any Law for Interest was made and that all Countries are at this day richer or poorer in an exact proportion to what they pay and have usually paid for the Interest of Money it remains that we enquire carefully whether the abatement of Interest be in truth the Cause of the Riches of any Country or only the Concomitant or Effect of the Riches of a Country in which seems to lie the Intricacy of this Question To satisfie my self wherein I have taken all opportunities to discourse this point with the most ingenious men I had the Honour to be known to and have searcht for and read all the Books that I could ever hear were printed against the Abatement of Interest and seriously considered all the Arguments and Objections used by them against it All which have tended to confirm me in this opinion which I bumbly offer to the consideration of wiser Heads viz. That the Abatement of Interest is the Cause of the Prosperity Riches of any Nation and that the bringing down of Interest in this Kingdom from six to four or three per Cent will necessarily in less then twenty Years time double the Capital Stock of the Nation The most material Objections I have met with against it are as follows Object 1. To abate Interest will cause the Dutch and other People that have Money put out at Interest in England by their Friends and Factors to call home their Estates and consequently will occasion a great scarcity and want of Money amongst us To this I answer That if Interest be brought but to four per Cent no Dutchman will call in his Money that is out upon good Security
in England because he cannot make above three per Cent of it upon Interest at home But if they should call home all the Money they have with us at Interest it would be better for us than if they did it not for the Borrower is alwayes a slave to the Lender and shall be sure to be always kept poor while the other is fat and full HE THAT USETH A STOCK THAT IS NONE OF HIS OWN BEING FORCED FOR THE UPHOLDING HIS REPUTATION TO LIVE TO THE FULL IF NOT ABOVE THE PROPORTION OF WHAT HE DOTH SO USE WHILE THE LENDER POSSESING MUCH AND USING LITTLE OR NONE LIVE ONLY AT THE CHARGE OF WHAT HE USETH AND NOT OF WHAT HE HATH Besides if with this Law for abatement of Interest a Law for Transferring Bills of Debt should pass we should not miss the Dutch Money were it ten times as much as it is amongst us for that such a Law will certainly supply the the defect of at least one half of all the ready Money we have in use in the Nation Object 2. If Interest be abated Land must rise in purchase and consequeâ—tly Rents and if Rents then the Fruits of the Land and so all things will be dear and how shall the Poor live c. Answ. To this I say If it follow that the Fruits of our Land in consequence of such a Law for abatement of Interest grow generally dear it is an evident demonstration that our People grow richer for generally where-ever Provisions are for continuance of Years dear in any Country the People are rich and where they are most cheap throughout the World for the most part the People are very poor And for our own Poor in England it is observed That they live better in the dearest Countries for Provisions than in the cheapest and better in a dear year than in a cheap especially in relation to the publick good for that in a cheap Year they will not work above two dayes in a Week their humour being such that they will not provide for a hard time but just work so much and no more as may maintain them in that mean condition to which they have been accustomed Object 3. If Interest be abated Vsurers will call in their Money so what shall Gentlemen do whose Estates are Mortgaged c. Answ. I answer That when they know they can make no more of their Money by taking out of one and putting it in another hand they will not be so forward as they threaten to alter that Security they know is good for another that may be bad Or if they should do it our Laws are not so severe but that Gentlemen may take time to dispose of part of their Land which immediately after such a Law will yield them thirty yeaâ—s purchase at least and much better it is for them so to do than to abide longer under that consuming Plague of Usury which hath insensibly destroyed very many of the best Families in England as well of our Nobility as Gentry Object 4. As Interest is now at six per cent the Kings Majesty upon any emergency can hardly be supplied and if it should be reduced to four per cent how shall the King find a considerable sum of Money to be lent him by his People Answ. I answer The abatement of Interest to the People is the abatement of Interest to the King when he hath occasion to take up Money For what is borrowed of the City of London or other Bodies Politick nothing can be demanded but the legal Interest and if the King have occasion to take up Money of private Persons being his Majesty according to good right is above the common course of Law the King must and always hath given more then the legal Rate As for instance The legal Rate is now six per cent but his Majesty or such as have disposed of his Majesties Exchequer-Tallies have been said to give ten and twelve in some cases and if the legal Rate were ten his Majesty might probably give thirteen or fourteen So if Interest be brought to four per cent his Majesty in such cases as he now gives ten must give six or seven by which his Majesty would have a clear advantage Object 5. If Interest be abated it will be a great prejudice to Widows and Orphans who have not Knowledge and Abilities to improve their Estates otherwise Answ. I answer That by our Law now Heirs and Orphans can recover no Interest from their Parents Executors except it be left fully and absolutely to the Executors to dispose and put out Money at the discretion of the Executors for the profit and loss of the Heirs and Orphans And if it be so left to the Exccutors discretion they may improve the Monies left them in Trade or purchase of Lands and Leases as well as by Interest Or when not the damage such Heirs and Orphans will sustain in their minority being but two per cent is inconsiderable in respect of the great advantage will accrew to the Nation in generel by such abatement of Interest Besides when such a Law is made and in use all Men will so take care in their Life to provide for and educate their Children and instruct their Wives as that no prejudice can happen thereby as we see there doth not in Holland and Italy and other places where Interest is so low Having now offered my thoughts in answer to the aforesaid Objections it will not be amiss that we enquire who will be advantaged and who will receive prejudice in case such a Law be made First His Majesty as hath been said in answer to that Objection will when he hath occasion take up Money on better terms Besides which He will receive a great Augmentation to his Revenue thereby all his Lands being immediately worth after the making such a Law double to what they were before his Customs will be much increas'd by the increase of Trade which must necessarily insue upon the making such a Law The Nobility and Gentry whose Estates he mostly in Land may presently upon all they have instead of Fifty write one Hundred The Merchants and Tradesmen who bear the Heat and Burthen of the Day most of our Trade being carried on by young Men that take up Money at Interest will find their Yoak sit lighter upon their Shouldiers and be incouraged to go on with greater alacrity in their Business Our Marriners Shipwrights Porters Cloathiers Packers and all sorts of Labouring People that depend on Trade will be more constantly and fully employed Our Farmers sell the product of their Lands at better rates And whereas our Neighbours the Netherlanders who in regard of the largeness of their Stocks and Experiences the Sons continually succeeding the Fathers in Trade to many Generations we may not unfitly in this case term Sons of Anach and Men of renown against whom we fight Dwarfs and â—igmies in Stocks and Experience being younger Brothers of Gentlemen that seldom have
Suppliment THE fore-going Discourse I Wrote in the Sickness-Summer at my Country-Habitation not then intending to publish it but only to communicate it to some Honourable and Ingenious Friends of the present Parliament who were pleased to take Copies of it for their own deliberate consideration and digestion of the Principles therein asserted which at first were strange to them as I expect they will be to most others till they have spent some time in thinking on them after which I doubt not but all Men will be convinced of the Truâ—h of them that have not some private Interest of heir own against them external to the general Good of the Kingdom For sure I am they have a Foundation in Nature and that according to the excellent Sr William Petty's Observation in his late Discourse concerning Taxes Res nolune male Administrare Nature must and will have its course the matter in England is prepared for an Abatement of Interest and it cannot long be obstructed and after the next Abatement who ever lives fourty Years longer shall see a second Abatement for we shall never stand on even ground in Trade with the Dutch till Interest be the same with us as it is with them His Majesty was graciously pleased at the opening of the last Session of this Parliament to propose to the Consideration of both Houses the Ballancing of the Trade of the Nation to effect which in my opinion the Abatement of Interest is the first and principal Engine which ought to be set on work which notwithstanding I should not have presumed to expose it to publick censure on my own single Opinion if I had not had the concurrance of much better Judgments then my own having never seen any thing in Print for it though much against it until the latter end of Ianuary last at which time a Friend whom I had often discoursed with upon this subject met with by accident a small Tract to the same purpose Wrote near fifty years ago which he gave me and I have for publick Good thought fit to annex it hereunto verbatim The Author of the said Tract by the stile thereof seems to have been a Country Gentleman and my Education hath mostly been that of a Merchant so I hope that going together they may in some measure supply the defects of each other Another Reason that induced me to to the Printing of them together is because what he Wrote then would be the consequences of the Abatement of Interest from ten to six per cent I have I think fully proved to the Conviction of all Men not wilfully blind have been the real effects thereof and that to a greater proportion then he did premise every Paragraph whereof was Writ by me and Copies thereof delivered to several worthy Members of this Parliament many Months before ever I saw or heard of this or any thing else Writ or Printed to the like purpose What I have aimed at in the whole is the good of my Native Country otherwise I had not busied my self about it for I want not employment sufficient of my own nor have reason to be out of love with that I have The several Particulars in the beginning of this Treatise relating to Trade I have only hinted in general terms hoping that some abler Pen will hereafter be incited for the service of his King and Country to enlarge more particularly upon them Before I conclude though I have studied brevity in the whole I cannot omit the inserting of one Objection more which I have lately met with to the main design of this Treatise viz. Object It is said that the lowness of Interest of Money in Holland is not the EFFECT OF LAWS but proceeds only FROM THEIR ABUNDANCE THEREOF for that in Holland there is no Law limitting the rate of Usury Answ. I answer that it may be true that in Holland there hath not lately been any Law to limit Usury to the present rate it is now at i. e. three or four per cent although most certain it is that many years since there was a Law that did limit it to five or six at most And by consequence there would be a renewing of that Law to a lesser rate were it necessary at this time It having always been the Policy of that People to keep down the Interest of their Money three or four per cent under the rate of what is usually paid in their Neighbouring Countries which being now naturally done it is needless to use the Artificial Stratagem of a Law to Establish Answ. 2. Although they have no Law expresly limitting Interest at present yet they have other Laws which we cannot yet arrive to which do effect the same thing among them and would do the like among us if we could have them One whereof is their ascertaining REAL SECURITIES by their PUBLICK REGISTERS For we see evidently Money is not so much wanting in England as Securities which Men account Infallible a remarkable Instance whereof is the East-India-Company who can and do take up what Money they please for four per cent at any time Another Law is Their constitution of BANKS and LUMBARDS whereby private Persons that have but tollerable credit may be supplied at easie rates from the State A third and very considerable one is Their Law for Transferring Bills of Debt mentioned in the beginning of this Discourse A fourth which is a Custom and in effect may be here to our Purpose accounted as a Law is the extraordinary Frugality used in all their Publick Affairs which in their greatest Extreamities have been such as not to compel them to give above four per cent for the loan of Money Whereas it is said His Majesty in some Cases of exigency when the National Supplies have not come in to answer the present Emergencies of Affairs hath been inforced to give above the usual Rates to Gold-Smiths and that encouraged them to take up great Sums from private Persons at the full rate of six per cent whereas formerly they usully gave but four per cent otherwise in humane probability Money would have fallen of it self to four per cent But again to conclude Every Nation does proceed according to peculiar Methods of their own in the Transactions of their publick Affairs and Law-making And in this Kingdom it hath always been the Custom to reduce the Rate of Interest by a Law when Nature had prepared the matter fit for such an alteration as now I say it hath By a Law it was reduced from an unlimitted rate to ten and afterwards from ten to eight after that from eight to six And through the Blessing of Almighty God this Kingdom hath found as I think I have fully proved and every Mans Experience will witness prodigious success and advantage thereby And I doubt not through the like Blessing of God Almighty but this Generation will find the like great and good effects by the reduction of it from six to four which is now at
offended with me I dare undertake that this will never spoil but mend their Marriages besides the greater good it will bring to their Country and to their Posterities after them whether they prove to be Noblemen Gentlemen or Merchants c. I have in several places of my ensuing Treatise referred to some Tracts I formerly published upon this subject which being now wholly out of Print I thought fit to Re-print and annex unto this which at first I intended not Some there are who would grant that abatement of Interest if it could be effected would procure to the Nation all the good that I alledge it will bring with it but say it is not practicable or at least not now 1. A needless scruple and contradictory to experience for first a Law hath abated Interest in England three times within these few Years already and what should hinder its effect now more then formerly 2. If a Law will not do it why do the Vsurers raise such a dust and engage so many Friends to oppose the passing of an Act to this purpose The true reason is because they are wise enough to know that a Law will certainly do it as it hath done already though they would perswade others the contrary And if it be doubted we have not Money enough in England Besides what I have said in my former Treatise as to the encrease of our Riches in general I shall here give some further Reasons of probability which are the best that can be expected in this case to prove that we have now much more Money in England then we had twenty Years past Notwithstanding the seeming scarcity at present if I should look further back then twenty years the argument would be stronger on my side and the proportion of the encrease of Money greater and more perspicuous but I shall confine my self to that time which is within most mens Memories 1. We give generally now one third more Money with Apprentices then we did twenty years past 2. Notwithstanding the decay and loss of sundry Trades and Manufactures yet in the gross we Ship off now one third part more of the Manufactures as also Lead and Tin then we did twenty years past which is a cause as well as a proof of our increase of Money If any doubt this if they please to consult Mr Diâ—kins Surveyor of his Majesties Customs who is the best able I know living and hath taken the most pains in these Calculations he may be satisfactorily resolved 3. Houses new built in London yield twice the Rent they did before the Fire and Houses generally immediately before the Fire yielded about one fourth part more Rent then they did twenty years past 4. The speedy and costly buildings of London is a convincing and to Strangers an amazing Argument of the plenty and late encrease of Money in England 5. We have now more then double the quantity of Merchants Shiping we had twenty years past 6. The course of our Trade from the increase of our Money is strangely altered within these twenty years most Payments from Merchants and Shop-keepers being now made with ready Money whereas formerly the course of our general Trade run at three six nine twelve and eighteen Months time But if this case be so clear some may ask me How comes it to pass that all sorts of men complain so much of the scarcity of Money especially in the Country My answers to this Query are viz. 1. This proceeds from the Frailty and Corruption of humane Nature it being natural for men to complain of the present and commend the times past so said they of Old The former days were better then these and I can say in truth upon my own Memory that men did complain as much of the scarcity of Money ever since I knew the world as they do now nay the very same Persons that now complain of this and commend that time 2. And more particularly This complaint proceeds from many mens finding themselves uneasie in the matters of their Religion it being natural for men when they are discontented at one thing to complain of all and principally to utter their discontents and complaints in those things which are most popular Those that hate a man for some one cause will seldom allow of any thing that is good in him and some that are angry with one person or thing will find fault with others that gave them no offence like peevish Persons that meeting discontent abroad coming home quarrel with their Wifes Children Servants c. 3. And more especially this complaint in the Country proceeds from the late practice of bringing up the Tax-Money in Wagons to London which did doubtless cause a scarcity of Money in the Country 4. And principally this seeming scarcity of Money proceeds from the Trade of Bankering which obstructs circulation advanceth Usury and renders it so easie that most Men as soon as they can make up a Sum of 50 l. or a 100 l. send it into the Gold-Smith Which doth and will occasion while it lasts that fatal pressing necessity for Money so visible throughout the whole Kingdom both to Prince and People From what hath been last said it appears the matter in England is prepared for the abatement of Interest which as Sr Henry Blunt an honourable Member of his Majesties Council of Trade well said before the Lords at the debate is the Unum Magnum towards the prosperity of this Kingdom It is a generative good and will bring many other good things with it I shall conclude with two or three Requests to the Reader 1. That he would Read and consider what he Reads with an entire Love to his Country void of private interests and former ill grounded impressions received into his mind to the prejudice of this principle 2. That he would Read all minding the matter not the stile before he make a judgment 3. That in all his meditations upon these Principles he would warily distinguish between the Profit of the Merchant and the Gain of the Kingdom which are so far from being always parallels that frequently they run counter one to the other although most Men by their Education and Business having fixed their eye and aim wholly upon the former do usually confound these two in their Thoughts and Discourses of Trade or else mistake the former for the latter from which false measures have proceeded many vulgar errors in Trade some whereof by reason of Mens frequent mistakings as afore-said are become almost Proverbial and often heard out of the Mouths not only of the common People but of Men that might know better if they would duly consider the afore-said distinction Some of the said common Proverbial errors are viz. 1. Vulgar Error We have too many Merchants already 2. The Stock of England is too big for the Trade of England 3. No Man should exercise two Callings 4. Especially no Shop-keeper ought to be a Merchant 5. Luxury and some Excess may be
and I think my Opposer is not clear sighted if he cannot discern that the latter in a due and regulated proportion must be a consequent of them In the next place the Gentleman finding me at a loss as he says for the reason of our great Trade at present will help me as well as he can I answer Those latter Words as well as he can were well put in for as yet he hath told me no News nor given any shadow of Reason that I knew not before and had maturely considered on many Years before I writ the first Treatise The Reasons he gives for our present greatness of Trade are First Our casting off the Church of Rome Secondly The Statutes in Henry the 7 th's time prohibiting Noble mens Retainers and making their Lands liable to the payment of Debts Thirdly The discovery of the East and West-India Trades pag. 19 20. To his first and second Reasons I answer that Those Statutes of Henry the 7 th and our casting off the Church of Rome did long precede our being any thing in Trade which began not until the latter end of Queen Elizabeth's Reign and afterwards encreased in the time of King Iames and King Charles the first as we abated our Interest and not otherwise there being a Person yet living and but 77 Years of Age viz. Captain Russel of Wapping who assures me he can remember since we had not above three Merchants Ships of 300 Tuns and upwards belonging to England Secondly That in Italy where there are no such Statutes for abridgement of Noble men's Retainers nor casting off the Church of Rome there is notwithstanding a very great Trade and Land at from 35 to 40 Years purchase which sufficiently shews that a low Interest is absolutely and principally necessary and that the other particulars alone will not do to the procuring of those ends although a low Interest singly doth it in Italy To his third Reason I answer that There are some men yet living who do remember a greater Trade to East-India and a far greater Stock employed therein then we have now and yet we were so far from thriving upon it that we lost by it and could never see our principal Money again Nor ever did we greatly prosper upon it till our Interest was much abated by Laws nor ever shall mate the Dutch in it till our Interest be as low as theirs The like in a great measure is true in our West-India Trades we never got considerable by them till our last Abatement of Interest from 8 to 6 per Cent. Pag. 21 22. he labours to prove that If we would have Trade to flourish and Lands high we must imitate the Hollanders in their Practices which in matter of Trade I know is most certain so far as they are consistent with the Government of our own Country And the first and readiest thing wherein we can imitate them is to reduce our Interest of Money to a lower rate after the manner of our Fathers and they did it before us which will naturally lead us to all the other advantages in Trade which they now use 1. For If Interest be abated to 4 per Cent who will not that can leave his Children any competent Estate of 1000 or 2000 l. each bring them up to Writing Arithmetick and Merchants Accompts and instruct them in Trades well knowing that the bare use of their Money or the product of it in Land will scarce keep them 2. Must not all Persons live lower in Expence when all Trades will be less gainful to Individuals though more profitable to the Publick 3. Will it not put us upon building as bulky and cheap sailing Ships as they 4. Will it not bring Trade to be so familiar amongst us that our Gentlemen who are in our greatest Councils will come to understand it and accordingly contrive Laws in favour of it 5. Will not nay hath it not already brought us to lower our Customs upon our own native Commodities and Manufactures 6. Will it not in time bring us to transferring Bills of Debt Is not necessity the Mother of Invention and that old Proverb true facile est inventis addere There is in my poor Opinion nothing conduceable to the good of Trade that we shall not by one accident or other hit upon when we have attained this Fundamental point and are thereby necessitated to follow and keep to our Trades from Generation to Generation 7. Do we not see that even as the World now goes dies diem docet scarce a Session of Parliament passeth without making some good Acts for the bettering of Trade and pareing off the extravagancy of the Law for which ends this last Session produced three That about the Silk-Throwsters That about Transportation of Hides c. That about Writs of Error 8. Will not the full understanding of Trade acquired by Experience and never wanting to any People that make it their constant business to follow Trade as we must do when Interest shall be at 4 per Cent quickly bring us to find our advantage in permitting all Straâ—gers to co-habit trade and purchase Lands amongst â—s upon as easie terms as the Dutch do Will not the Consequence of this Law by augmenting the value of Land bring us in time to regular and just Enclosements of our Forrests Commons and Wastes and making our smaller Rivers navigable the highest Improvements that this Land is capable of And have not these last 50 Years since the several Abatements of Interest produced more of these profitable Works then 200 Years before Will not the Consequence of this Law discover to us the vanity and opposition to Trade that there seems to be in many of our Statutes yet in force such as these fâ—llowing viz. 1st The Statutes of Bankrupt as they are now used in many cases more to the Prejudice of honest Dealers then the Bankrupt himself by compelling men often times to refund Money received of the Bankrupt for Wares justlâ— sold and delivered him long before it was possible for the Seller to discover the Buyeâ— to be a Brankrupt 2dly Such are our Laws limiting the price of Beer and Ale to one Penny per Quart which bar us from all Improvements and Imitation of foreign Liquors made of Corn commonly called Mum Spruce-Beer Rosteker-Beer which may and are made in England and would occasion the profitable Consumption of an incredible quantity of our Grain and prove a great aâ—dition to his Majestieâ— Revenue of Excise expend abundance of Coals in long boyling of those Commodities imploy many Hands in the Manufacture of them as well as Shipping in Transportation of them not only to all our own Plantations in America but to many other parts of the World 3dly Our Laws against engrossing Corn and other Commodities there being no Persons more beneficial to Trade in a Nation then Engrossers which will be a worthy Employment for our present Vsurers and render them truly useful to their Country 4thly Such
order to the building and supplying our Shiping that without them other Trades could not be carried on It will not be denied by the honourable East-India Company but they import much more Goods into England than they export that to purchase the same they carry out quantities of Gold Silver annually yet no man that understands any thing of the Trade of the World will affirm that England loseth by that Trade The Dutch with good reason esteem the trade of the East-Indies more profitable to them than are the Mines of Gold and Silver in America to the King of Spain and if the English Companies were vested by Act of Parliament with so much Authority as the Dutch have and thereby encouraged to drive as full a Trade thither as the Dutch do I doubt not but it would be so not so much to the private gain of the Members of that Company as the publick profit of this Kingdom in general however as it is it will not be difficult to prove that it is the most beneficial Trade this Nation drives at present For 1 st That trade constantly employes twenty five to thirty Sail of the most War-like Ships in England with Sixty to a Hundred Men in each Ship and may in two or three Years more employ a greater Number and in order to the carrying on that Trade that Company hath lately unconstrained given considerable Encouragements for the building of great Ships which hath had good effect 2 dly It supplies the Nation constantly and fully with that in this Age necessary material of Salt-Petre 3 dly It employs the Nation for its Consumption with Pepper Indico Calicoes and several useful Drugs near the value of 150000 l. to 180000 l. per Annum 4 thly It furnished us with Pepper Cowryes Long-Cloth and other Callicoes and painted Stuffs proper for the Trade of Turkey Italy Spain France and Guiny to the amount of 2 or 300000 l. per Annum most of which Trades we could not carry on with any considerable advantage but for those supplies and these Goods exported do produce in foreign parts to be returned to England six times the Treasure in Specie that the Company exports from hence Now if not only the aforesaid advantages be seriously considered but also what detriment the Nation would sustain if we were deprived of those supplies both in point of Strength and War-like Provisions in regard of Shiping and Salt-Petre but also in respect of the furtherance it gives to many other Trades before-mentioned it will easily appear that this Trade though its Imports exceeds its Exports is the most advantagious Trade to England and deserves all encouragement for were we to buy all our Pepper and Callicoes c. of the Dutch they would raise our Pepper which now standâ— the Nation but about 3 d. per pound in India to or near the proportion which they have advanced on Nutmegs Cloves and Mace which cost the Dutch not much more per pound in India than Pepper since they engrossed the Trade for those Commodities and the use of Callico in England would be supplied by foreign Linnen at greater Prices so that what may be secured from this Nation 's consumption would in probability cost them above 400000 l. per Annum more then now it doth and our foreign Trades for Italy Guiny c. would in part decay for want of the afore-said supplies There is another Notion concerning the Ballance of Trade which I think not impertinent here to take notice of viz. Some are of opinion that the way to know whether the Nation gets or loseth in the general by its fore-going Trade is to take an inspection into the course of the Exchange is generally above the intrinsick value or Par of the Coins of foreign Countries we not only lose by such Exchanges but the same is a demonstration that we lose by the general course of our foreign Trade and that we require more supply of Commodities from abroad than our exports in Goods do serve to purchase And certain it is that when once the Exchaâ—ge comes to be 5 or 6 per Cent above the true value of foreign Monies our Treasure would be carried out whatever Laws should be made to prevent it and on the contrary when the Exchange is generally below the true value of the foreign Coins it is an evidence that our Exports do in value exceed what we require from abroad And so if the Exchange comes to be 5 or 6 per Cent below the true value of the foreign Coins returns will be made for England in the Coins of foreign Countries Now that there is also a great deal of truth in this Notion is not to be denied and that the diligent observance and consideration of the course of the Exchange may be of use and very necessary in many respects and is a very ingeniuous Study for any that would dive into the mystâ—ries of Trade yet because this is likewise subject to vary on many accidents of Emergencies of State and War c. because there is no settled course of Exchange but to and from France Holland Flanders Hambrough Venice Legorn Genoa and that there are many other great and eminent Trades besides what are driven to those Countries this cannot afford a true and satisfactory solution to the present Question Thus having demonstrated that these Notions touching the Ballance of Trade though they are in their kind useful Notions are in some cases fallible and uncertain If any shall ask How shall we then come to be resolved of the matter in Question I answer first The best and most certain discovery to my apprehension is to be made fâ—om the encrease or diminution of our â—rade and Shiping in general for if our Trade and Shiping diminish whatever profit particular men may make the Nation undoubtedly loseth and on the contrary if our Trade and Shiping encrease how small or low soever the profits are to private men it is an infallible Indication that the Nation in general thrives for I dare affirm and that Catagorically in all parts of the whole World where-ever Trade is great and continues so and grows daily more great and encreaseth in Shiping and that for a succession not of a few Years but of Ages that Trade must be Nationally profitable As a Town where only a Fair is kept if every Year the number of People and Commodities do augment that Town however the Markets are will gain whereas if there comes still fewer and fewer Peâ—ple and Commodities that place will decline and decay Discoursing once with a Noble Lord concerning this measure or method of knowing the Ballance of our Trade or more plainly our general National gain or loss by Trade his Lordship was pleased to oppose by asking two very proper Questions viz. Quest. 1. Is there not a great similitude between the Affairs of a private Person and of a Nation the former being but a little Family and the latter a great Family I
English Cloth and from whose Territories we receive great quantities of Currance purchased with our ready Money It seems to me advantagious for England that that Importation as well as the Importation of wrought-Glasse drinking-Glasses and other Manufactures from thence should be discouraged it being supposed we can now make them as well our selves in England The Trade for Cannary-Wines I take to be a most pernitious Trade to England because those Islands consume very little of our Manufactures Fish or other English Commodities neither do they furnish us with any Commodities to be further Manufactured here or re-Exported the Wines we bring from thence being for the most part purchased with ready Money so that to my apprehension something is necessary to be done to compel those Islanders to spend more of our English Commodities and to sell their Wines cheaper which every Year they advance in Price or else to lessen the Consumption of them in England I have in this last Discourse of the Ballance of Trade as well as in my former confined my self to write only general Heads and Principles that râ—late unto Trade in general not this or that particular Trade because the several Trades to several Countries may require distinct and particular considerations respecting the time place competitors with us and other circumstances to find out wherein our advantages or disadvantages lie and how to improve the former and prevent the latter but as this would be too great a Work for one Man so I fear it would make this too great a Book to be well read and considered But in the Preface to this Treatise I have briefly mentioned many particular Trades that we have lost and are loosing and by what means and many Trades that we yet retain and are encreasing and how it happens to be so which may give some Light to a clearer Discovery and Inspection into particular Trades unto which Ingenious Men that have Hearts to serve their Country in this so necessary Work at this time may add and further improve by the advantage of Abilities to express their Sentiments in a more Intelligible and Pausible Stile but when I and others have said all we can A low Interest is as the Soul to the Body of Trade it is the Sine qua non to the Prosperity and Advancement to the Lands and Trade of England CHAP. X. Concerning PLANTATIONS THE Trade of our English Plantations in America being now of as great Bulk and â—mploying as much Shiping as most of the Trades of this Kingdom it seems not unnecessary to Discourse more at large concerning the Nature of â—lantations and the good or evil consequences of tâ—em in relation to this and other Kingdoms and the rather because some Gentlemen of no mean Capacities are of Opinion that his Majestie 's Plantations abroad have very much prejudiced this Kingdom by draining us of our People for the confirmation of which Opinion they urge the Example of Spain which they say is almost ruined by the Depopulation which the West-Indies hath occasioned to the end therefore a more particular Scrutiny may be made into this maâ—ter I shall humbly offer my Opinion in the following Propositions and then give those Reasons of Probability which presently occur to my Memory in confirmation of each Proposition 1. First I agree That Lands though excellent without Hands proportionable will not enrich any Kingdom 2. That whatever tends to the Dâ—populating of a Kingdom tends to the â—mpoverishment of it 3. Tâ—at most Nations in the civilized Parts of the World are more or less Rich or Poor proportionably to the Paucity or Plenty of their People and not to the Sterility or Fruitfulness of their Landâ— 4. I do not agree that our People in England are in any considerable measure abated by reason of our Foreign Plantations but propose to prove the contrary 5. I am of Opinion that we â—ad immediately before the late Plague many more People in England then we had before the Inhabiting of Virginia New-England â—â—rbadoes and the rest of our American Plantations 6. That all Colonies or Plantations do endamage their Mother-Kingdoms whereof the Trades of such Plantations are not confined by severe Laws and good executions of those Laws to the Mother-Kingdom 7. That the Dutch will reap the greatest advantage by all Colonies issuing from any Kingdom of Europe whereof the Trades are not so strictly confined to the proper Mother-Kingdoms 8. That the Dutch though they thrive so exceedingly in Trade will in probability never endamage this Kingdom by the growth of their Plantations 9. That neither the French Spaniard nor Portugeez are much to be feared on that account not for the same but for other causes 10. That it is more for the advantage of England that New-found-Land should remain Vnplanted then that Colonies should be sent or permitted to go thither to Inhabit with a Governour Laws c. 11. That New-England is the most prejudicial Plantation to the Kingdom of England I. That Lands though in their Nature excellently good without Hands proportionable will not enrich any Kingdom This first Proposition I suppose will readily be assented to by all judicious persons and therefore for the proof of it I shall only alledge matter of Fact The Land of Palestine once the Richest Country in the Vniverse since it came under the Turks Domâ—nion and consequently unpeopled is now become the Poorest Andaluzia and Granada formerly wonderful Rich and full of good Towns since dis-peopled by the Spaniard by Expultion of the Moors many of their Towns and brave Country Houses are fallen into Rubbish and their whole Country into miserable Poverty though their Lands naturally are prodigiously Fertil A Hundred other Instances of Fact might be given to the like purpose II. Whatever tends to the populating of a Kingdom tends to the emprovement of it The former Proposition being granted I suppose this will not be denyed and of the means viz. good Laws whereby any Kingdom may be populated and consequently enriched is in effect the substance and design of all my foregoing Discourse to which for avoiding repitition I must pray the Reader 's retrospection III. That most Nations in the civilized parts of the World are more or less Rich or Poor propoâ—tionable to the paucity or plenty of their People This third is a consequent of the two former Propositions and the whole World is a witness to the Truth of it The seven united Provinces are certainly the most populous tract of Land in Christendom and for their bigness undoubtedly the richest England for its bigness except our Forrests Wastes and Commons which by our own Laws and Customs are bared from Improvement I hope is yet a more populous Country than France and consequently richer I say in proportion to its bigness Itaâ—y in like proportion more populous than France and richer and France more populous and rich than Spain c. IV. I do not agree that our People in England are in any considerable
yet retain a sufficient number to defend the Kingdom and cultivate our Lands at home I answer first The bigness of Armies is not alwayes a certain Indication of the numerousness of a Nation but sometimes rather of the nature of the Government and Distrubation of the Lands as for instance Where the Prince and Lords are owners of the whole Territory although the People be thin the Armies upon occasion may be very great as in East-India Turkey and the Kingdoms of Fesse and Morocco where Taffelet was lately said to have an Army of one hundred and fifty or two hundred thousand men although every body knows that Country hath as great a scarcety of people as any in the World But since Free-holders are so much encreased in England the servile Tenures altered doubtless it is more difficult as well as more chargeable to draw great numbers of men into foreign Wars 2. Since the Introduction of the new Artillery of Powder Shot and Fire-Arms in the World all War is become as much rather an expence of Money as Men and success attends those that can most longest spend Money rather than men and consequently Princes Armies in Europe are become more proportionable to their Purses then to the Numbers of their People VI. That all Colonies and foreign Plantations do endamage their Mother-Kingdoms whereof the Trades of such Plantations are noâ— confined to their said Mother Kingdoms by good Laws and severe Execution of those Laws 1. The practice of all the Governments of Europe witness to the truth of this Proposition The Danes keep the Trade of Izland to themselves The Dutch Surrenham and all their Settlements in East-India The French St Christophers and their other Plantations in the West-Indies The Portugeeze Brazil and all the Coasts thereof The Spaniards all their vast Terriories upon the Main in the West Indies and many Islands there and our own Laws seem to design the like as to all our Plantations in new-New-England Virginia Barbadoes c. although we have not yet arrived to a compleat and effectual Execution of those Laws 2. Plantations being at first furnished and afterwards successively supplied with People from their Mother Kingdoms and people being Riches that loss of people to the Mother Kingdoms be it more or less is certainly a damage except the employment of those People abroad do cause the employment of so many more at home in their Mother Kingdoms and that can never be except the Trade be restrained to their Mother Kingdom which will not be doubted by any that understands the next Proposition viz. VII That the Dutch will reap the greatest advantage by all Colonies issuing from any Kingdom in Europe whereof the Trades are not so strictly confined to their proper Mother Kingdoms This Proposition will readily be assented unto by any that understand the nature of low Interest and low Customs where the Market is free they shall be sure to have the Trade that can sell the best penny-worths that buy dearest and sell cheapest which Nationally speaking none can do but those that Money at the lowest rate of Interest and pay the least Customs which are the Dutch and this is the true cause why before the Act of Navigation there went ten Dutch Ships to Barbadoes for one English VIII That the Dutch though they thrive so exceedingly in Trade will in probability never endamage this Kingdom by the growth of their Plantations 1. In fact the Dutch never did much thrive in planting for I do remember they had about twenty Years past Tabago a most fruitful Island in the West-Indies apt for the production of Sugars and all other Commodities that are propagated in Barbadoes and as I have heard Planters aâ—firm better accomodated with Rivers for Water-Mills which are of great use for grinding of the Canes this Island is still in their possession and Corasoa and some others and about sixteen or seventeen Years past they were so eager upon the Improvement of it that besides what they did in Holland they set up Bills upon the Exchange in London proffering great Priveledges to any that would Transport themselves thither Notwithstanding all which to this day that Island is not the tenth part so well improved as Iamaica hath been by the English within these five Years neither have the Dutch at any other time or in any other parts of the World made any emprovement by Planting what they do in the East-Indies being only by War Trade and Building of Fortified Towns and Castles upon the Sea-Coasts to secure the sole Commerce of the Places and with the people which they Conquer not by clearing breaking up of the Ground and Planting as the English have done This I take to be a strong Argument of Fact to my present purpose 2. The second Argument to prove this Proposition is from Reason I have before-mentioned the several Accidents and Methods by which our Foreign Plantations have from time to time come to be peopled and emproved Now the Dutch being void of those Accidents are destitute of the occasions to emprove Foreign Plantations by diging and delving as the English have done For 1 st In Holland their Interest and Custom being low together with their other Encouragements to Trade mentioned in the former part of this Treatise gives Employment to all their people born and bred amongst them and also to multitudes of Foreigners 2. Their giving Liberty or at least Connivance to all Religions as well Jews and Roman-Catholicks or Sectaries gives security to all their Inhabitants at home and expels none nor puts a necessity upon any to Banish themselves upon that account 3. Their careful and wonderful providing for and employing their Poor at home puts all their People utterly out of danger of Starving or necessity of Stealing and consequently out of fear of Hanging I might add to this that they have not for a long time had any Civil War among them and from the whole conclude that the Dutch as they did never so they never can or will thrive by planting and that our English Plantations abroad are a good effect proceeding from many evil causes IX That neither the French Spaniards or Portugeeze are much to be feared on the account of Planting not for the same but for other Reasons That the French have had footing in the West-Indies almost as long as the English is certain and that they have made no considerable Progress in Planting is as certain and finding it so in fact I have been often exercising my thoughts about enquiry into the reason thereof which I attribute especially to two First because France being an absolute Government hath not until very lately given any countenance or encouragement to Navigation and Trade Secondly and principally because the French Settlements in the West-Indies have not been upon Free-Holders as the English are but in subjection to the French West-India Company which Company being under the French King as Lord Proprietor of the places they settle
Kingdom thereby then the Dutch do by that And that in consequence thereof all Plantations of other Nations must in a few Years sink to little or nothing X. That it is more for the Advantage of England that New found Lands should remain unplanted then that Colonies should be sent or permitted to go thither to Inhabit under a Governour Laws c. I have before discoursed of Plantations in general most of the English being in their nature much a like except this of New-found-Land and that of New-England which I intend next to speak of The advantage New-found-Land hath brought to this Kingdom is only by the Fishery there and of what vast concernment that is is well known to most Gentlemen and Merchants especially those of the West parts of England from whence especially this Trade is driven It is well known upon undeniable poof that in the Year 1605. the English employed 250. Sail of Ships small and great in Fishing upon that Coast and it is now too apparent that we do not so employ from all Parts above Eighty Sail of Ships It is likewise generally known and confessed that when we employed so many Ships in that Trade the current price of our Fish in that Country was Communibus annis seventeen Rials which is eight Shillings six Pence per Qunital and that since as we have lessened in that Trade the French have encreased in it and that we have annually proceeded to raise our Fish from seventeen Rials to twenty four Rials or twelve Shillings Communibus annis as it now sells in the Country This being the Case of England in relation to this Trade it is certainly worth the enquiery 1st How we came to decay in that Trade 2dly What means may be used to recover our antient Greatness in that Trade or aâ— least to prevent our further diminution therein The decay of that Trade I attribute First and principally to the growing Liberty which is every Year more and more used in Romish Countries as well as others of eating Flesh in Lent and on Fish-days 2. To a late abuse crept into that Trade which hath much abated the expence within these twenty Years of that Commodity of sending over private Boat-keepers which hath much diminished the number of the Fishing-Ships 3. To the great encrease of the French Fishery of Placentia and other Ports on the back-side of New-found-Land 4. To the several Wars we have had at Sea within these twenty Years which have much empoverished the Merchants of our Western Parts and reduced them to carry on a great part of that Trade at Bottumry viz. Money taken upon Adventure of the Ship at twenty per cent per Annum 2. What means may be used to recover our antient greatness in that Trade or at least to prevent our farther diminution therein For this two contrary ways have been propounded 1. To send a Governour to reside there and to encourage people to Inhabit there as well for Defence of the Country against Invasion as to manage the Fishery there by Inhabitants upon the Place this hath often been propounded by the Planters and some Merchants of London 2. The second way propounded and which is directly contrary to the former is by the West-Country Merchants and Owners of the Fishing-Ships and that is to have no Governour nor Inhabitants permitted to reside at New-found-Land nor any Passengers or private Boat-keepers suffered to Fish at New-found-Land This latter way propounded is most agreeable to my Proposition and if it could be effected I am perswaded would revive the decaied English-Fishing-Trade at New-found-Land and be otherwise greatly for the advantage of this Kingdom and that for these following reasons 1. Because most of the Provision the Planters which are settled at New-found-Land do make use of viz. Bread Beef Pork Butter Cheese Clothes and Irish-Bengal Cloth Linnen and Woollen Ireish-Stockings as also Nets Hooks and Lines c. they are supplied with from New-England and Ireland and with Wine Oyl and Linnen by the Sâ—lt Ships from France and Spain in consequence whereof the Labour as well as the Feeding and Clothing of so many Men is lost to England 2. The Planters settled there being mostly loose vagrant People and without Order and Government do keep dissolute Houses which have Debaucht Sea-Men and diverted them from their laborious and industrious Calling whereas before there were settlements there the Sea-Men had no other resort during the Fishing Season being the time of their abode in that Country but to their Ships which afforded them convenient Food and Repose without the Inconveniencies of Excess 3 If it be the Interest of all Trading Nations principally to encourage Navigation and to promote especially those Trades which employ most Shiping then which nothing is more true nor more regarded by the wise Dutch then certainly it is the Interest of England to discountenance and abate the number of Planters at New-found-Land for if they should encrease it would in a few Years happen to us in relation to that Country as it hath to the Fishery at new-New-England which many Years since was managed by English Ships from the Western Ports but as Plantations there encreased fell to be the sole Employment of People settled there and nothing of that Trade left the poor old English-Men but the liberty of carrying now and then by courtesie or purchase a Ship loading of Fish to Bilvoa when their own Nâ—w-English Shiping are better Employed or not at leisure to do it 4. It is manifest that before ther were Boat-keepers or Planters at New-found-land Fish was sold cheaper than now it is by about 40 per Cent and consequently more vented the reason whereof I take to be this The Boat-keepers and Planters being generally at first able Fisher-men and being upon the place can doubtless afford their Fish cheaper then the Fishing Ships from Old England so doubtless they did at first as well at New-England as at New-found-land until they had beat the English Ships out of the Trade after which being freed from that competition they became Lazy as to that laborious employment having means otherwise to live and employ themselves and thereupon enhaunced the price of their Fish to such an excess as in effect proves the giving away of that Trade to the French who by our aforesaid impolitick management of that Trade have of late Years been able to under-sell us at all Markets abroad and most certain it is that those that can sell cheapest will have the Trade 5. This Kingdom being an Island it is our Interest as well for our preservation as our profit not only to have many Sea-men but to have them as much as may be within call in a time of danger Now the Fishing Ships going out in March and returning home for England in the Month of September yearly and there being employed in that Trade two hundred and fifty Ships which might carry about ten thousand Sea-men Fisher-men and Shore men as they usually call the